New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) A Delhi court on Saturday sent Md Enamul Haque, the prime accused in a multi-crore cross-border cattle smuggling racket, to seven days' custodial interrogation in a money laundering case related to the illegal trade across the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

Special judge Anurag Sain passed the order on an application filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking seven days custody of the accused.

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"As per the case of the ED, the accused is the mastermind, key conspirator and the leader of cattle smuggling syndicate and has connived with many other accused persons, and to unearth the true facts, to identify the other associates of the accused and to collect relevant evidence related to proceeds of crime, custodial interrogation is required," the judge noted.

The court sent Haque to ED custody till February 26.

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ED's Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana told the court that Haque acquired huge amount of wealth from proceeds of crime generated out of cross boarder activities and violated several laws.

Further investigation reveals that the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 179 crore approximately in the guise of remittance have been laundered from the offence of cattle smuggling, Rana told the court.

The ED further alleged that the accused arrested on Friday by the ED, was not cooperating in the investigation and that his interrogation would reveal crucial facts.

The ED alleged that the accused was the key conspirator of cattle smuggling syndicate.

"The custodial interrogation of the present accused is necessary to unearth true facts and the conspiracy, to collect relevant evidence relating to the proceeds of crime and the persons involved in laundering the process, assets created in India and abroad," the ED said.

The accused had to be confronted with voluminous documents and other co-conspirators to find out the modus operandi of money trail, the ED said.

Haque opposed the remand application, claiming that he was innocent and had been made scapegoat in the present matter.

According to the ED, the case was lodged following an FIR by the CBI, in Kolkata against Satish Kumar, the then commandant of BSF.

The FIR alleged that Haque, along with Kumar and other public servants and private persons, was involved in smuggling of cattle.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)